Kanoe Kirie and Itou Kaiji, two people who hadn't seen much of the world, could barely walk after seeing the skeleton before them.
Kanoe Kirie was slightly better off, as she could at least take advantage of being a girl and hide tightly behind Hiiragi Inori.
Itou Kaiji did not have this luxury.
If his pathetic self were to even get slightly closer to Kanoe Kirie, it would make her even more nervous.
As a result, Itou Kaiji could only maintain a certain distance from the two girls.
He tremblingly asked Hiiragi Inori in front of him what they needed to do next.
"You two just stand here and don't move. I just need to temporarily form a contract with this place's ley line so I can borrow its power."
Having just brushed past that vengeful spirit of Yuuko, Hiiragi Inori could already roughly judge her strength.
The power of resentment on her was indeed stronger than her own. If they were to fight head-on, she was afraid she would not be her opponent.
After all, under normal circumstances, she indeed only had the strength of a Grade 1, and a rather marginal one at that.
However, unlike jujutsu sorcerers, whose strength is determined by the amount of cursed energy in their bodies.
Onmyoji could enhance their own strength by using the spirits and shikigami they summoned, while spirit mediums could connect with ley lines and rely on their own spiritual power to control the power of the local ley line.
Although these methods of borrowing power all had many restrictions.
Onmyoji needed to sign contracts with shikigami and also needed to spend resources to maintain their existence, and there was also the risk of being counter-devoured by the spirits.
Although the requirements for one's own spiritual power were not as high for spirit mediums, they placed more emphasis on sensory ability and the ability to communicate with the ley line.
A powerful spirit medium, on their own turf, as long as they didn't completely ruin the local ley line in one go, was almost equivalent to the local deity.
However, the more powerful a spirit medium was, the harder it was for them to leave their own territory.
Otherwise, the compatibility with the ley line, which had been achieved over a long period of time, would decline, and it would take even more effort to raise it back up again.
Of course, because the Hiiragi family now had an even older shrine maiden guarding the shrine, Hiiragi Inori, who was only in her early twenties, could naturally still run around without worrying about these things.
The only thing she needed to pay attention to was that after borrowing the local ley line, she could not leave the area immediately.
Although a ley line might seem like just a hub and core that automatically gathers local spiritual energy, to make it willingly contribute its spiritual energy, one had to treat it with sincerity.
If one only relied on "sweet talk" to borrow its power and then left directly after using it up without caring about the ley line's reaction.
Then a good outcome would be that the ley line of this place would be dissatisfied with the spirit medium's irresponsible behavior and would be unwilling to lend its power to others in the future.
A worse outcome would be that the local ley line would start to throw a tantrum, which would have a great impact on the lives of the local residents.
So ever since the Shinto higher-ups researched the method of connecting to ley lines to borrow power, they had also made a series of restrictions to require the Shinto spirit mediums to ensure that the ley lines they had used did not generate feelings of dissatisfaction.
In other words, after borrowing the power of the ley line here, she could not leave this place directly for at least the next week. She would need to use this week to appease the ley line until the local one had completely recovered its power before she could leave.
If she borrowed too much spiritual power, it would naturally take more time.
"I hope this business trip only lasts a week," Hiiragi Inori calculated in her mind, and at the same time, took out the ritual tool for communicating with the ley line, sat down near the shrine, and began to establish a connection with the ley line here.
However, as soon as she sat down, she felt a deep resentment from the depths of the ley line.
As expected, the spirit of Kanoe Yuuko had indeed signed some kind of contract with the ley line here before she died, which was how she could transform into a vengeful spirit and survive until now with the support of the ley line.
It was just that ten years ago, when her mother came to investigate, the resentment left by Kanoe Yuuko in the ley line was not too strong, and it was even much cleaner than the ley lines in many places.
Therefore, her mother had only prayed for and purified the ley line here a little before leaving, and had also stated in her report to the higher-ups that the vengeful spirit here did not pose a high threat.
Who would have thought that in just a short ten years, the vengeful spirit of that Kanoe Yuuko would have grown to its current extent.
And now, the problem her mother had left behind back then had fallen to her, the daughter, to bear.
She couldn't borrow too much power and had to leave a portion of her power to restrain those resentments.
After sealing Kanoe Yuuko, she would also have to purify the influence she had on the ley line over the years.
Hiiragi Inori thought to herself, and then began to try to establish a connection with the remaining part of the spiritual power that had not been polluted by resentment.
However, she was still somewhat worried in her heart.
Was this power enough for her to seal the vengeful spirit of Kanoe Yuuko?
But she didn't have time to think about these things now.
Because she was still concerned about Miyauchi Hikage and the other person outside, who had attracted Kanoe Yuuko's attention by some unknown means.
She also didn't know how long they could last, but the ley line here was influenced by Kanoe Yuuko's vengeful spirit, so it probably wasn't the type that could be easily connected to.
In short, she had to speed up now.
Hiiragi Inori put away her extraneous thoughts, and after reminding Kanoe Kirie behind her, she devoted herself entirely to the process of establishing a link with the ley line.
The originally somewhat bright basement, following Hiiragi Inori's actions, became dim again.
In this somewhat torturous darkness, Itou Kaiji felt that his concentration had never been as focused as it was now.
Even though his phone was unusable now, he found that he could accurately judge the time that had passed in the basement by relying on his own heartbeat.
But what was the use of this?
In this state, Itou Kaiji's thinking also gradually became much clearer.
He had already judged that the reason why the vengeful spirit of that Kanoe Yuuko had left here just now was probably because his boss had discovered that he couldn't contact them outside, so he had made some noise, which had alerted her.
He really hoped that his boss could withstand the pressure of that vengeful spirit, but at most, his boss had only known about these things for half a month longer than him, which was why that Nanami-san had sent Hiiragi Inori over to help.
Who knew that Hiiragi Inori would be trapped in the basement of the old school building first and unable to get out? Now his boss and the suspected boss's wife were outside. How could they escape this female ghost?
Itou Kaiji thought pessimistically in his heart.
However, just as the 30th second of the 8th minute after they entered the basement passed, a sound suddenly came from above the basement again.
With this sound, Itou Kaiji felt the urge to wet his pants again.
Could it be that his boss had already been dealt with, and that female ghost was now back to deal with them?
In the darkness, he tried to move closer to Hiiragi Inori's direction.
But in the next moment, as a somewhat dazzling light lit up in the basement, it was Kanoe Kirie who let out a cry of surprise after seeing the person who had come.
"Grandma, why are you here too?"
Itou Kaiji also finally saw the person who had come clearly at this time.
The person who had come was indeed Kanoe Kirie's grandmother, and also the chairman of this Seikyou Academy, Kanoe Yukariko.
Upon seeing her arrival and discovering that the flashlight she was holding could still be used, although it had only been a few minutes in the darkness, Itou Kaiji couldn't help but feel a little teary-eyed when he saw the light again.
He tried to take out his phone again.
The phone was still unusable.
If he had known, he would have brought a flashlight with him too.
This modern technological device was really not as useful as a simple flashlight in this place.
While Itou Kaiji was complaining in his heart that the phone was useless, Kanoe Kirie was already walking towards her grandmother. As she walked towards the light, she reminded her grandmother not to come down.
After all, her grandmother was already in her seventies this year, and it was a bit too dangerous for her to come to a place like this alone.
And below was Kanoe Yuuko's skeleton. There was no need to let her grandmother see such a stimulating scene again.
It was better to quickly take her grandmother upstairs and wait for Hiiragi Inori-san to wake up.
However, just as she was about to walk back to the basement door, Itou Kaiji in the basement suddenly realized that something was wrong again.
Since Kanoe Yukariko appeared until now, had she not said a single word?
In this past month, although Itou Kaiji's performance in the camera had always been quite pathetic, about thirty to forty percent of it was actually for show, an effect he deliberately put on under Miyauchi Hikage's guidance.
In fact, although he had been a bit arrogant recently because he had earned some money, it had only been a short time, and he still cherished the opportunity Miyauchi Hikage had given him.
In the past few weeks, when he had nothing to do, he had also, on Sakakibara Kouichi's recommendation, gone to the video store near his home to rent some classic horror discs and forced himself to watch them alone.
Although he had nightmares every day, he had indeed gained some basic awareness in this area.
Kanoe Yukariko's side could obviously see them in the basement.
No matter how she got here, and whether the room outside was locked again, after discovering Kanoe Kirie and the others' whereabouts, she should always say a few words to ask her.
She was now just waving the flashlight around in the basement, letting them in the basement see her face. This reaction was too strange!
Therefore, after realizing this, Itou Kaiji quickly opened his mouth to remind Kanoe Kirie to be careful.
"What?"
At this time, Kanoe Kirie had already walked more than half of the way up the stairs and was less than ten steps away from her grandmother.
After hearing Itou Kaiji's reminder, she took another two steps before turning back to look at him with some confusion.
Telling her to be careful?
Seeing that her footsteps had stopped, Itou Kaiji explained Kanoe Yukariko's abnormality to her.
"Chairman Kanoe, if you're okay, just say a word to us!"
As he said this, Itou Kaiji had already moved behind Hiiragi Inori under the light.
If this Kanoe Yukariko was really transformed from the female ghost of Kanoe Yuuko, then he could at least last a little longer here.
And after hearing Itou Kaiji's inquiry, Kanoe Kirie's heart couldn't help but tremble as she turned her head to look at the "grandmother" at the door.
With Itou Kaiji's exposure, a twisted smile also appeared on her grandmother's familiar face.
"I was originally going to let you feel the pain I experienced back then before occupying your body, but you guys are quite perceptive..."
As she spoke, Kanoe Yukariko's figure quickly dissolved, and in the next moment, what appeared before Kanoe Kirie was the same terrifying figure she had seen in the old school building not long after she enrolled.
Kanoe Kirie's feet were a little unsteady. If it weren't for the fact that she was leaning against the wall to barely keep her balance, she might have already fallen down the stairs.
Hearing her words, and knowing that if it weren't for Itou Kaiji's reminder just now, she would probably have been controlled by Kanoe Yuuko by now.
Realizing this, she instinctively wanted to escape.
But in her mind, she remembered the truth her grandmother had told her.
Back then, it was indeed her grandmother at the entrance of this basement who had ordered those ignorant villagers to break Kanoe Yuuko's grandmother's legs and throw her into the basement to be sacrificed to the so-called gods.
For the past sixty years, her grandmother had always wanted to atone to the Kanoe Yuuko before her, but the other had never shown any indication.
Although she didn't know why the other had not made any move for sixty years, yet showed this extremely ferocious face today.
But Kanoe Kirie knew that she could not escape now.
After knowing the whole truth, she had already prepared herself in her heart.
If the other's hatred could be resolved by her own life, she was willing to bear all this for her grandmother.
She also really wanted to find out what Kanoe Yuuko's grand-aunt really wanted to do.
And, besides her own reasons, Hiiragi Inori-san in the basement was also still working hard, and she could not be disturbed at this time.
Even if she couldn't resolve grand-aunt Yuuko's hatred, if she could drag on for a little more time now, it might affect the fate of Hiiragi Inori-san and that Mr. Itou.
Therefore, after leaning back slightly and adjusting her nervous emotions, Kanoe Kirie finally apologized to Kanoe Yuuko in a guilty tone.
"Yuuko... grand-aunt, I already know the truth of what happened back then from my grandmother."
"I don't know what you want to do now, but if your target is me, I am willing to atone for my grandmother for her mistake back then."